Presbyterians for Earth Care Lenten Reflections 2014
Advocating for Environmental and Social Justice
Isaiah 58:1 Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Advocating for Environmental and Social Justice
Isaiah 58:1 Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
"if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday." Isaiah 58: 10
We in South Louisiana will come to the table this Maundy Thursday and to Good Friday’s deadliness. We will come as people on the edge of Exile. We will come as people who dwell in the dark shadows of a quickening disastrous future. We will come as residents of a sacrificial zone. We will come as a people who see God’s good life giving earth disappearing under our feet. We will come as people who see a cornucopia of good things to share and eat endangered. We will come as people who know every day the consequences of sin. We will come with a growing sense of urgency and foreboding. We will come as the fishers for a nation. We will come afraid to eat the bounty of our place. We will come as a people desperate for hope. We will come as poets and prophets, as fishers, dwellers-in-place, and providers of food. We will come because in the last analysis we have no other place to go. We will come to the table. We will come to face Good Friday. We will come full of fear and seeking hope. We come in darkness and gloom. We will come praying for light and noonday. WE WILL COME TO THE TABLE WHERE THE BREAD OF LIFE IS SHARED.
I See the
Hammer
Strike the crucifying Nails
And I see the Ghost tree
remains of the once mighty
Cypress.
I see water
where Communities once thrived.
And the Ringing of the Nails
fills the Earth.
I See the
Hammer
Strike the crucifying Nails
and I see the City
a Flood.
Death floating.
And the Ringing of the Nails
fills the Earth.
I See the
Hammer
Strike the crucifying Nails
and I See the Brown Sludge
Cover the Earth
Stopping the Reflection
Of God’s Smile.
And the Ringing of the Nails
Covers the Sea.
I See the
Hammer
Strike the crucifying Nails
I See
the Black Death
Covering the Birthplace,
the Nursery place,
the Resting place,
Of God’s Creatures
And the Places of God’s People.
And the Ringing of the Nails
fills the Earth.
The Hammer Stops.
The Nails are Driven.
The Ringing Ends in
Silence.
Dead Silence.
And the Silence is Louder
Than All the Other Sounds.
It is the Sound of the Death of God.
ONLY THE SILENCE OF RESURRECTION IS LOUDER.
From “Nails” by Richard Krajeski
Richard Krajeski has been a Presbyterian pastor for almost 50 years and an environmental advocate even longer. He has been involved with the Presbyterian environmental program from its beginning. He is a Fellow in the Society for Applied Anthropology. He is a founding board member of the international Gender and Disaster Network and the Natural Hazard Mitigation Association. Dick is a founder and President of the board of directors of the Lowlander Center, Dick now spends his time working to develop the Wetlands Theological Education Project of the South Louisiana Presbytery and serving the people of south Louisiana with his wife the Rev. Dr. Kristina Peterson and the people of the First Presbyterian Church of Bayou Blue.
We in South Louisiana will come to the table this Maundy Thursday and to Good Friday’s deadliness. We will come as people on the edge of Exile. We will come as people who dwell in the dark shadows of a quickening disastrous future. We will come as residents of a sacrificial zone. We will come as a people who see God’s good life giving earth disappearing under our feet. We will come as people who see a cornucopia of good things to share and eat endangered. We will come as people who know every day the consequences of sin. We will come with a growing sense of urgency and foreboding. We will come as the fishers for a nation. We will come afraid to eat the bounty of our place. We will come as a people desperate for hope. We will come as poets and prophets, as fishers, dwellers-in-place, and providers of food. We will come because in the last analysis we have no other place to go. We will come to the table. We will come to face Good Friday. We will come full of fear and seeking hope. We come in darkness and gloom. We will come praying for light and noonday. WE WILL COME TO THE TABLE WHERE THE BREAD OF LIFE IS SHARED.
I See the
Hammer
Strike the crucifying Nails
And I see the Ghost tree
remains of the once mighty
Cypress.
I see water
where Communities once thrived.
And the Ringing of the Nails
fills the Earth.
I See the
Hammer
Strike the crucifying Nails
and I see the City
a Flood.
Death floating.
And the Ringing of the Nails
fills the Earth.
I See the
Hammer
Strike the crucifying Nails
and I See the Brown Sludge
Cover the Earth
Stopping the Reflection
Of God’s Smile.
And the Ringing of the Nails
Covers the Sea.
I See the
Hammer
Strike the crucifying Nails
I See
the Black Death
Covering the Birthplace,
the Nursery place,
the Resting place,
Of God’s Creatures
And the Places of God’s People.
And the Ringing of the Nails
fills the Earth.
The Hammer Stops.
The Nails are Driven.
The Ringing Ends in
Silence.
Dead Silence.
And the Silence is Louder
Than All the Other Sounds.
It is the Sound of the Death of God.
ONLY THE SILENCE OF RESURRECTION IS LOUDER.
From “Nails” by Richard Krajeski
Richard Krajeski has been a Presbyterian pastor for almost 50 years and an environmental advocate even longer. He has been involved with the Presbyterian environmental program from its beginning. He is a Fellow in the Society for Applied Anthropology. He is a founding board member of the international Gender and Disaster Network and the Natural Hazard Mitigation Association. Dick is a founder and President of the board of directors of the Lowlander Center, Dick now spends his time working to develop the Wetlands Theological Education Project of the South Louisiana Presbytery and serving the people of south Louisiana with his wife the Rev. Dr. Kristina Peterson and the people of the First Presbyterian Church of Bayou Blue.
Rev. Dr. Kristina Peterson currently facilitates The Lowlander Center, a nonprofit organization that helps create solutions through education, research, and advocacy, beginning at the community level, for Lowland people and places in the bayous of Louisiana. She received the PEC William Gibson Environmental Award in 2010.
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